ADVANCE CONFIDENTLY!
Making Sense of the Uncertainty of Service to Others
“He who endeavors to serve, to benefit, and improve the world, is like a swimmer, who struggles against a rapid current, in a river lashed into angry waves by the wind. Often, they roar over his head, often they beat him back and baffle him. Most men yield to the stress of the current. Only here and there the stout, strong heart and vigorous arms struggle on towards ultimate success.” -Albert Pike
If we are called to serve, I can almost assure you, we will struggle. We will be faced with very difficult choices, and we can only hope the guidance we follow will be from our highest self. The difficulty is often in deciding if the calling is of a true divine nature, or if it’s just us in our own minds.
This is where we must have faith. If we are putting our trust in something much bigger than we are, we may also be compelled to make decisions that are much bigger than we are. Once a decision is made, it is sometimes impossible to recover from that decision, or at least in the present moment, it feels impossible.
We don’t yet know what the future holds for us, but we can be sure whatever it is, it will be based on the decisions we make every day. Sometimes we are willing to follow our instincts, and in the moment, it may look like the choices we made were wrong. Not all choices are right or wrong. Life is not a dichotomy; life is messy and complicated. Sometimes the choices we make will haunt us the rest of our lives…
The truth of the matter is, we don’t ever really know whether we made the right or wrong choice, but we know we chose. The act of not choosing is also a choice… What we must reconcile, is whether or not we can live with and stand by the choices we make. If we can find a way to do that, then we are on our way to real acceptance…
Who even knows for sure, what success really looks like as it relates to service? Success can only ever be defined individually, but whether it be in service or in life, I can almost assure you, we will be called to be stout, strong hearted, and compelled to struggle mightily against the current of life.
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
